The Construction of Identity and School Policy in Ukraine

The book studies the processes of identity construction in post-communist Ukraine. The post-communist transformation in Ukraine has its own specificity and involves the complex processes of nation-state building. The issues of identity in its political, social, ethnic and cultural aspects assume a major significance in these circumstances. The whole spectrum of identity issues is revealed in the practice of socialisation. The analysis of this practice under post-communist conditions is undertaken.

In particular, the role of school and the state educational policy in moulding the individual and collective identities is explored. The research examines the complex interrelation between communist and post-communist state politics and practices of school socialisation, and shows the development of these practices from communist to post-communist patterns. The triangle, 'power-knowledge-identity', provides the main conceptual framework of the book.

Victor Stepanenko